Pooja Sachdeva calls herself an accidental poet who chose poetry to become the voice of her thoughts and experiences in life. From writing songs to sharing her poetry at open mic gigs, she chose who she wanted to be and how she would express herself to the whole world. Pooja Sachdeva’s professional indulgence with the media industry cued her journey of facing the mic and audience.
Currently, alongside working as a media professional for one of the telecom companies, Pooja Sachdeva is an influencer who, through her Instagram page, shares her poems with her audience,
ICY Tales is in conversation with Pooja Sachdeva, who shares her journey from writing for herself to performing for the entire world as a poet.
Q. Can you tell us something about yourself?
Pooja Sachdeva: I would describe myself in two lines’ Old school, Deep shit, An Art and a Myth’; this weave of words borders around the fact that I am a writer, poet, storyteller, and digital content creator. Professionally I have worn many hats in my twelve-year media career; I have been a voice-over artist, Radio Jock for many radio stations, and at one point, I was a Bollywood reporter. I have worked for digital media companies, and now I work for a telecom giant, handling all their media-related work. So that’s me!
Q. Poetry comes from inspiration; what is the source of your inspiration?
Pooja Sachdeva: For me, inspiration comes from life; my own and other people’s experiences in life are my sources of inspiration. My writings are a replica of various things I have always wanted to discuss.
Since childhood, the gender bias and conditioning toward gender roles triggered me, and I have always wanted to discuss it. Even though I did not know about gender equality or feminism back then, the differential treatment between boys and girls always made me question these gender conditions. As a rebellious child, I had many questions to ask and vent my feelings.
While growing up, when the period was a new occurrence, one eventually realized that it is a part of life that one has to live with, yet people considered it taboo. When I was sixteen years I was molested, so with growing up and changing times, I could understand people and the various walks of life.
All these urges to talk were mostly limited to my writings. When you do not see me talking about love in most of my pieces, I discuss various issues and create rebel pictures. Eventually, the open mic trend gave me a platform to express myself; so when people say I do poetry, it is me venting out what I always wanted to say.
I believe one of the biggest sources of inspiration for writers is pain, so we writers and poets channel this pain through words to create pieces we can share with the world. And people can easily relate to the piece because somewhere, they had experienced some of these issues in their lives
.Q. What have been the building factors behind your passion for poetry?
Pooja Sachdeva: I don’t think I would be able to justify this question with my answer; honestly, I consider myself an ‘accidental poet.’ As I never had a passion for poetry. I never really had the ambition to become a poet growing up, nor as an adult did I aspire to become one. It was just accidental that I became a poet, which everyone mostly knows.
I see other content creators and poets reading famous works of famous poets, but I was never into those. However, I have been very passionate about writing since my school days. I used to write about many things but was passionate about writing songs.
Back in those days, landline phones and STD Booths were predominant, unlike today, there was no YouTube or Instagram, so sharing the content wasn’t much accessible plus, I felt satisfied for being able to write for myself in my journal. So this passion for writing songs transpired into the dream of watching my written songs in movies.
When I moved to Mumbai and worked as a Bollywood reporter, I used to hand out hard copies of the songs I had written to random producers and directors I used to meet. But of course, the response was very bleak, and I came across the opportunities for open mic gigs, which I found fascinating.
So then I thought of writing poetry; since I was already writing songs taking a shot at writing poetry seemed worthwhile. And the idea of performing in front of an audience and being able to receive feedback and response got me started.
Since I have always been a stage baby, I took the leap and performed for the first time, the title “Han mai characterless hoon” (Yes, I am Characterless), and it went viral. After that, I embarked on this unplanned journey to be a digital creator or a poet.
Even today, I am an accidental poet because I don’t write regularly like other content creators; I do so only when I have to say something. I am stronger in the idea that art can never be created; it comes to you and chooses you. I post content only when poetry chooses me, and I have nothing to say. I am inactive for days together, so that’s how I function as a poet or a content creator.
Q. Do you feel any difference between previous generation poetic works compared to today’s work?
Pooja Sachdeva: Today’s era and the new generation of artists have greater leverage through artistic liberty than the previous generation. When I say artistic liberty, I mean the freedom to use language, mix various languages and use terminologies that may not be used in a conventional setup.
For example, in one of the recent Bollywood songs, “Keshariya,” the creator took the liberty to use the word ‘love storiyaan.’ So as artists, this liberty gives us the scope to tune in words and grammar to build on new content. Today’s poets have bold content and issues they talk about through their poetry. In addition, today, poets are under a lot of pressure to write well and perform, so in this digital era, words are not enough.
If one wishes to grab the attention of the audience, then one must also perform it in front of a mic and camera. It is also true that previous generation poets were way too deep and original; to be honest, today, most of the work around love poetries is inspired by the already existing works of the previous generation poets.
Q. How do you feel connected with the world and people through your work?
Pooja Sachdeva: Actually, I feel that I am not that connected with the world, which is why I can write; I am isolated from the world, mostly in my zone. I don/t talk much, and whenever I have to say something or create a piece, I go online, put it up, and retrieve it to my zone without being bothered about the page interaction and algorithm. So for me, even if I am not connected with the audience, I am okay with it because it is important that people feel connected with my art and poetry.
You will notice that poets and artists are always disconnected from the world: this is the price they pay for the content they come up with. I believe writing is a very lonely process, so one must spend most of the time alone with their thoughts and feelings to create a piece of art. So I would say I don’t connect with the world at all.
Q. What advice do you have for someone willing to become a poet?
Pooja Sachdeva: I have two pieces of advice; one is a piece of practical advice; poetry can be someone’s passion, but it cannot be someone’s occupation. It is not something, at least not yet, that one can make money from unless one has a large following on their Youtube channel.
It’s better to have a backup plan, a proper job that is fuelling the pockets while one fuels their soul by indulging in poetry. Don’t just say, ‘I have to become a poet’ because that would be your passion, not your occupation.
The second advice is to sit with your feelings and thoughts; don’t force yourself to create poetry because that way, poetry will never come to you. It will come automatically; keep living your life, observing, feeling, and experiencing every emotion you can.
Traveling, talking to strangers, and remembering poetry come from experiences and memories. If you have a boring life, you will have nothing to say or share, so go out, make memories and then sit with your thoughts and memories; when you come back, a masterpiece will automatically come to you.
Pooja Sachdeva considers poetry a niche art that requires the inner calling to create and appreciate any such creation. She finds mind and experience connection in solitude an ideal platform for optimizing one’s skills in indulging in poetry. Pooja Sachdeva’s beautiful journey indicates that passion is the medium of liberating oneself a little every day.
